Gabriel García Márquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2003.

In this way Marquez criticizes society and demonstrates how traditions lead towards manipulation resulting in an innocent person dying for the sins others commit. Santiago Nasar parallels to Jesus Christ to depict the innocence of Santiago. On the day he is to be killed, “Santiago Nasar put on a shirt and pants of white linen” (5). The white linen portrays that Santiago is pure and innocent as Jesus. It is also what Jesus wore before he is crucified and is what Santiago wears during the time he is murdered by the Vicario brothers, Pablo and Pedro.

He transforms Angela to embody a survivor of lust and the survivor of a society, emphasizing how Angela is the only sin forgiven as she too ‘died’ emotionally for her sin from her banishment. Through this perspective, García-Márquez implies that Angela Vicario is reborn and “became a virgin just for him” (García-Márquez 93). He reinforces the idea of forgiveness for a sin and hence regains the innocence of mind and heart one has as a virgin. García-Márquez embodies lust through Angela to explain how people were controlled by sins

Strangely, the actions taken to prove honor was never questioned by characters in the novella. However, Bayardo San Roman showed his honor when he sent back his newly unfaithful wife, Angela, to her parents’ house for not being a virgin. This incident proved Bayardo’s respect to his community, the men in his community and his family. Another instance of honor would be the killing of Santiago by the Vicario brothers. The Vicario brothers killed Santiago in order to restore the honor of their unfaithful sister’s disrespect to Bayardo and the community.

Santiago was murdered for someone else's evil act, in other words, he was a sacrifice for the town's si... ... middle of paper ... ...en to be pure, he never marries again, afraid that his wife will not be pure. Later on Angela becomes a virgin all over again, she begins to deeply love Bayardo, and only lives for him to return to her. Virginity is a big cult in the code of honor and whomever that goes against this cult must suffer, unfortunately the sinner was not Santiago but was Angela. In a way Angela also died, but was reborn later on for the love of Bayardo. This novel shows the lack of Church and love can destroy a town, and someone has to die for it.

Marquez explained it “ she found it at first sight among the many, many easily confused names from this world and the other , and she nailed it to... ... middle of paper ... ...d in order to be for humans to be forgiven of their sins. The deaths of these innocent men cleanse the individuals of their transgressions. The societies allowed these men to die in order to remove their wrongdoings. Santiago would have only mocked the honor system if he would have continued living. Jesus challenged the traditions of the existing church by claiming that he was the son of God.

In the novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, virginity plays an important role in helping to create the plot of the novel. The novel is about a man named Santiago Nasar, who took the virginity of Angela Vicario and caused dishonor upon her family. Angela’s brothers, Pablo and Pedro Vicario, are going to kill Santiago because they think this will bring back the honor to their family. The idea of virginity is not only a high emphasis in the book, but the Colombian culture as well; a girl is to stay a virgin until she gets married. When Angela Vicario loses her virginity before getting married she causes much dishonor upon herself and her family.

Angela Vicario's father had "lost his sight from doing so much fine work in gold in order to maintain the honor of the house" (33). When Angela Vicario explained she lost her virginity to Santiago Nasar, the honor and respect of the family was lost. The Vicario brothers felt it was their purpose to keep some sort of semblance of honor to their family name. Angela's supposed premarital relations with Santiago Nasar were enough in this culture to warrant death. The idea that honor can cross the boundaries of religion is considered to be very powerful.

Gender roles, reflecting religious beliefs and cultural expectations also impact individual decisions and reactions as the characters grapple with the unfolding events. As the story unfolds, it is quickly clear that honor is paramount in this society, particularly family honor. The whole focus of the story is the murder of Santiago Nasar which was committed to restore the family honor lost by Angela Vicario when she had premarital sex, resulting in her failed marriage. Angela’s brothers commit murder, a mortal sin, to restore the family’s honor as tradition demands despite their reluctance since it “was certain that the Vicario brothers were not as eager to carry out of the sentence as to find someone who would do them the favor of stopping them” (Marquez, 57). Even after confessing to the crime, a jury found the brothers innocent in the name of honor ”Before God and before men…It was a matter of honor” (Marquez, 49).

He is forced to live, knowing that three people are dead because of his ignorance, which is a punishment worse than death. My opinion on this debate is that Antigone is the tragic hero. She tries to help her brother without worrying about what will happen to her. She says, "I intend to give my brother burial. I'll be glad to die in the attempt, -if it's a crime, then it's a crime that God commands" (Sophocles 4).